Movement

A movement or calibre is the inner heart of the watch, the internal mechanism or engine which acts as a powerhouse for the watch. There are many different types of movement, but they essentially fall into two categories: Mechanical or Quartz.

MECHANICAL

There are two types of mechanical movement: Automatic and Hand-Wound. Mechanical movements are considered very desirable in fine watchmaking due to the skill required to make them, building on centuries of craftsmanship and assembled my master watchmakers.Many luxury watch brands now develop their own in-house calibres, which are called in-house movements. This shows the skill and quality of a particular watch manufacturer.

Automatic

Automatic is used to describe a self-winding mechanical watch and is the most popular mechanical movement used by watchmakers. An automatic watch is wound by the movement of the wrist and as long as you wear the watch regularly, it will rarely need to be manually wound.An automatic watch uses energy from the mainspring to power the watch, rather than a battery. This energy is created by a rotor which turns in response to the wearer’s movement.

Hand Wound

Hand-wound is used to describe a hand-wound mechanical movement and is the oldest type of watch movement on the market.A hand-wound movement needs to be manually wound in order to create energy in the watch’s mainspring to power the watch. This is done by turning the crown multiple times and the mainspring will then slowly release energy.Winding intervals for a manual or hand-wound watch will depend on the capacity of the power reserve, which could be from 24 hours to a week or so.

Quartz

Quartz is used to describe a battery powered watch movement and is an electrical watch mechanism celebrated for its accuracy and minimal maintenance required, apart from changing the battery.A battery sends an electrical current via a small quartz crystal, electrifying the crystal to make small vibrations which keeps the movement oscillating and in turn powers the watch.

Water Resistance

Case Material

Luxury watches were traditionally made in gold but with the advent of new technologies in watchmaking many new materials have come on to the market and are now widely used.The case forms the outer part of the watch, which surrounds the bezel and the underneath of the dial. This can come in materials including yellow gold, rose gold, white gold, platinum, stainless steel, titanium, ceramic and a PVD coating.

Bezel

The Bezel is a ring surrounding the front a watch which secures the crystal to the case. Bezels are made of hard wearing materials such as steel, gold, rubber or ceramic. Some bezels rotate to perform functions essential for diving or aviation. (See below).

Bi-Directional Rotating Bezel

A bezel that can be rotated either clockwise or anticlockwise. It can be used for making time calculations, showing the time in a second time zone, measuring dive times or even using your watch as a compass.

Uni-Directional Rotating Bezel

This is a bezel that only turns in one direction. It was first used to measure time elapsed on diving missions. The bezel is prevented from turning the other way in order to stop the wearer accidentally knocking the bezel and thinking they have more time than they do. On many diving watches the first quarter of the bezel is highlighted in a different colour, as divers would use it to measure their last 15 minutes of air before re-surfacing.

Internally Rotating Bezel

A bezel that is set within the case and crystal and operated by a crown on the outside of the watch. This is designed to be easy to adjust and more accurate than an external bezel. It also protects the bezel from being accidentally adjusted if the watch is knocked against something.

Glass

Glass is used to describe the transparent cover of the watch, which can also be referred to as crystal. Glass is used to protect the dial but can also be used on the reverse of the watch to make a transparent open caseback, which shows the inner workings of the watch mechanism.

Sapphire Crystal Glass

Sapphire crystal glass is commonly used because it is highly scratch resistant and extremely hard wearing. It is completely transparent, enabling you to see every intricate detail on the watch dial and is one of the hardest natural substances making it an excellent protector.

Mineral Glass

Mineral glass is often used as an alternative to sapphire crystal. Lower priced watches can feature mineral glass, but also some older Rolex models may also use this type of glass.

Plexiglas

Plexiglas is the trade name for an acrylic glass, often used as a lightweight or shatter-resistant alternative to glass.

Power Reserve

A power reserve indicates the power remaining within the mechanical movement of a watch, from fully wound to when it comes to a stop. A power reserve of 38 hours, for example, will continue to tell the time for 32 hours before stopping.A power reserve indicator showing the amount of time remaining is sometimes shown as a sub-dial on the main dial of the watch.

Origin

The origin of a watch is where it has been assembled. Many watch brands are Swiss-made but there are a number of brands that originate from other countries, for example U-Boat is made in Italy and Bremont is made in England. Some watch brands will use Swiss-made parts, such as the movement, but the watch will be assembled elsewhere.